Here’s what just-released COVID-19 data means for you in Idaho’s Treasure Valley

Hey, Treasure Valley residents. Did you know you’re still supposed to be masking up inside?

That’s what public health officials are advising based on the latest COVID-19 data in Ada, Canyon and Elmore counties.

COVID-19 cases in Idaho decreased slightly in the week that began Monday, July 18, but remain high in many areas of the state, according to the new data.

Inpatient hospital admissions in the Boise area have gone down, but more hospital beds are being filled by COVID-19 patients. While positive COVID-19 test results have decreased slightly, they’re still near the top of a surge that’s been mounting since March.

Ada County and others in the Boise area remain stuck in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s red zone, where universal masking indoors is recommended.

But most local residents aren’t donning masks except when required in health care and work settings. Dr. Sky Blue, of Sawtooth Epidemiology, said the disease may be spreading quicker this surge, because of how few precautions people are taking.

“You walk around and nobody’s wearing masks,” Blue said by phone. “We have full-blown concerts, baseball games and get-togethers without anybody doing anything, compared to the time of (the Delta variant), when there were still a lot of people doing mitigation strategies.”

Now, he says most people have taken an “every-man-for-themselves” strategy.

Here’s what CDC numbers released Thursday say:

Case rates. Ada County’s case rate decreased from nearly 303 per 100,000 people the previous week to about 243, a 20% decrease. Canyon County’s case rate fell from 264 to about 213, a 19% decline.

Hospital admissions. In Ada County, COVID-19 admissions decreased from 19.8 per 100,000 people to 18.4. In Canyon County, admissions also fell from 19.8 to 18.4.

Hospital beds filled. Ada County’s rose from 9.7% of staffed inpatient beds in use by confirmed COVID-19 patients to 9.9%. Canyon County’s rate also increased to 9.9% from 9.7%.

State data shows that as of Monday, 185 hospital patients had COVID-19 and 11 were in intensive care.

“We have seen a little bit of an uptick in our admissions recently, but not to the severity that we saw back in December and January,” Dr. Patrice Burgess, executive medical director for Saint Alphonsus Health System, said by phone. “We’re not filling up the ICU with COVID-19 patients, for example.”

However, Burgess says more than a few factors have come together to put increased pressure on the health care system.

Physicians, nurses and other medical staff dealing with burnout have chosen to leave the industry in record numbers since the pandemic began, according to national news reports. There’s also been fewer new applicants.

Burgess said staff members themselves also still test positive for COVID-19 and need to be quarantined.

“We are suffering from staffing shortages,” Burgess said. “And keep in mind, the Treasure Valley has grown dramatically over the past few years. We have an increase in population and a decrease in health care workers.”

In addition, hospitals are now making up ground in elective surgeries and other procedures that were postponed for months or even years when emergency rooms were overwhelmed with the number of COVID-19 patients needing immediate care.

Burgess says Saint Alphonsus has been busy trying to get caught up.

“There was a stretch where people weren’t coming in for routine mammograms, colonoscopies and those types of things,” she said. “All of that is now happening.”

Positive test results. This metric is not used by the CDC, but hospital officials track it. Statewide positivity rates decreased slightly to 14.7% from July 2-16, down from 15.3% for June 27-July 9.

The percentage had been rising since late March. At the start of June, the rate was 9.6%, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Public health experts say this metric doesn’t provide a full picture of the disease’s impact in Idaho, thanks to the widespread use of at-home tests. That means the actual positivity rate is likely higher than 14.7%, which is nearly three times the 5% benchmark experts use to indicate control of the respiratory disease.

Blue said he doesn’t think the latest surge has peaked yet.

“The data that we’re measuring is flawed, because we’re not testing the same as we used to,” Blue said. “Many people are doing at-home testing or not testing at all, so you’ve got to look at the data with a grain of salt.”

ADA, CANYON, ELMORE COUNTIES IN RED

Ada, Canyon and Elmore counties are all still listed at the highest COVID-19 community level – the red zone. Red means the CDC recommends universal masking indoors.

Last week, the CDC also rated Boise County at high risk. Now it’s listed at medium risk – the yellow zone – where immunocompromised people are recommended to speak with a health care provider about whether to wear a mask.

For people who do test positive, Blue says health care providers have new and improved therapies to treat COVID-19.

“If anybody does come down with it, and they’re over 50 years old or have risk factors for severe disease, there are oral antivirals, new IV medications and monoclonal antibody treatments,” Blue said. “There’s also that fourth booster, which is available to most people.”

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